In this episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose are joined by interdisciplinary artist and internet truth-teller Anurag Minus Verma to talk about what’s really happening to Substack and why it matters. The online publishing platform began as a utopian space for writers and artists that promised no algorithms, no ads and no hustle for likes. It allowed for writers and readers to forge direct connections for a simple 10% cut. But with a fresh $100 million in VC funding and a growing nois...
Jul 24, 2025•39 min•Ep. 540
On July 22, 2025, a court found former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar guilty of accepting a ₹64 crore bribe from Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot. The bribe was allegedly routed through her husband’s company, NuPower Renewables, just a day after ICICI sanctioned a ₹300 crore loan to Videocon in 2009. In today's episode, we trace the complete timeline, from the first whistleblower alert in 2016 to the 11,000-page CBI chargesheet and the 2022 arrests of the Kochhars. We also look at how inte...
Jul 23, 2025•12 min•Ep. 539
India’s job market is broken. We’ve known that for a while. But the reason why is worth paying attention to. It’s not a lack of talent. Every year, India adds millions of graduates to its talent pool. Thousands enter the workforce—freshly certified and ready to be hired. The real problem is the growing disconnect between qualification and competence. Tune in. 🎓 Are you an Indian student in the US or recently graduated? Tell us what your journey’s been like: Take the survey...
Jul 22, 2025•11 min•Ep. 538
India’s packaged-food bigwigs ignored spices for a long time. Not anymore. Since 2020, everyone from ITC to Tata Consumer Products, from Dabur to Wipro, has been scrambling to cement their place in this essential corner of the Indian kitchen. They’ve pounced on spice brands, sometimes paying top dollar for them, all while their investors cheered them on. In fact, the stocks of Tata Consumer and ITC have both outperformed the S&P BSE FMCG index over the last five years. Turns out, this was al...
Jul 22, 2025•13 min•Ep. 537
It takes 150 crocus flowers to make just one gram of saffron. For comparison, a spice like cumin, gets you hundreds of kilos per acre whereas saffron yields barely two. Despite getting a prestigious GI tag from the Indian government and even a National Mission dedicated to its revival, Kashmir’s saffron production has plummeted:from 8 tonnes in 2011 to just 2.7 tonnes in 2024. So what’s going wrong? And can India learn something from Iran, which currently dominates 90% of the global saffron mark...
Jul 20, 2025•13 min•Ep. 536
iPhone 17 components have started arriving at Foxconn’s plant in Tamil Nadu. It signals Apple’s quiet but serious shift toward next-gen production in India, potentially starting as early as August. But as India is stepping into a more central role in Apple’s global supply chain, Foxconn is being forced to pull hundreds of Chinese engineers out of India. These are people who helped set up and run these complex manufacturing lines. The move has raised eyebrows with many interpreting it as Beijing’...
Jul 17, 2025•9 min•Ep. 535
CIBIL or Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd is one of only four credit information providers in the country that is licensed by the RBI. It is considered the oldest and the most reliable. It essentially calculates your credit score, a three digit number between 300 and 900, and provides it to banks so they can judge your creditworthiness. Usually, anything over 700 is considered good. But this whole process is anything but straightforward. In fact, it is shrouded in mystery. Each of these bur...
Jul 16, 2025•14 min•Ep. 534
On June 23, Ola Electric’s stock crashed to an all-time low of ₹43. This week, the stock staged a brief rebound, jumping nearly 20% in a single session. But at ₹47, it’s still trading far below its IPO price of ₹76 and more than 70% off its post-listing peak. On an earnings call, founder Bhavish Aggarwal insisted the company was on track. With rising margins and tighter cost control, he said, Ola would hit EBITDA break-even at 25,000 units a month. But a closer look at Ola’s financials tells a v...
Jul 15, 2025•13 min•Ep. 533
Welcome to the world of AI trainers. A growing army of freelancers is quietly shaping the way large language models think. Hired by companies like Turing, Mercor, and Deccan AI, these trainers are tasked with finding blind spots in models built by OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and Google—and fixing them. The goal? Fewer hallucinations. Smarter, more coherent responses. A model that feels just a little more… human. It’s a noble endeavour. But also a billable one. And as this new line of white-collar g...
Jul 14, 2025•11 min•Ep. 532
Until recently, the prospect of an IIM offering a standalone undergraduate degree seemed unlikely. Traditionally known for their elite postgraduate programs, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have long been synonymous with MBA excellence. That image is now undergoing a significant shift. IIM Sirmaur is among the many who have introduced a bachelor’s program. IIM Kozhikode and IIM Sambalpur have followed suit. IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow are also preparing to launch similar courses. Af...
Jul 13, 2025•11 min•Ep. 531
Just last year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sat across from Mukesh Ambani at the company’s first-ever AI summit in India. Dressed in his trademark black leather jacket, Huang addressed a packed room of tech founders, policymakers, and academics. He made a bold prediction: India, long known for exporting software, will soon be exporting AI. But this wasn’t just another keynote. It was a power play. At the same event, Nvidia and Reliance announced a major partnership to build AI infrastructure in Indi...
Jul 10, 2025•13 min•Ep. 530
47 million Indians just lost their life insurance coverage. But not one of the country’s biggest insurers seem bothered. In this episode, we look at the silent collapse of credit-linked life insurance—policies that were once bundled with microloans and quietly protected millions of low-income borrowers. But now, that model is breaking down. Blame mounting defaults, shaky microfinance lending, and a post-pandemic spike in death claims. As lenders pull back and insurers retreat, entire communities...
Jul 09, 2025•10 min•Ep. 529
Private credit is having a moment in India. Hardly a week goes by without a blockbuster deal. Whether it’s Deutsche Bank’s $3.4 billion debt package, KKR’s $600 million loan to Manipal, or a fresh round of financing for Shapoorji Pallonji. But beneath the surface, pressure is building. As interest rates fall and competition heats up, yields are tightening. Banks, once sidelined, are eyeing a comeback. They are realising they should once again lend to companies they gave up to non-bank lenders fi...
Jul 08, 2025•9 min•Ep. 528
After swearing off startups post a $300 million exit, Karan Bajaj is back with Complement 1 , a healthtech venture offering personalised coaching for cancer patients. But this isn’t just a pivot, it’s a whole new playbook. This time, it’s personal: Bajaj’s mother had cancer, and he says this is the product he wishes she had. Built for the American market, Complement 1 is taking a B2B route, targeting insurers, employers, and cancer centres. But early traction has been tough. Unlike edtech, healt...
Jul 07, 2025•12 min•Ep. 527
Ajio was supposed to be Reliance Retail’s e-commerce success story. While other digital bets like Jiomart, Dunzo, and Urban Ladder struggled to find their footing, Ajio surged ahead powered by aggressive discounts, brand partnerships, and the deep pockets of India’s largest retailer. But behind the scenes, the momentum was already beginning to crack. Today, we go inside the fashion platform’s sharp pivot. Over the past year, Ajio has gone through major leadership reshuffles, mass layoffs, and sh...
Jul 06, 2025•11 min•Ep. 526
Karnataka’s bike taxi ban has thrown Bangalore’s commute into chaos. Since June 16, services like Rapido, Ola, and Uber Moto have been off the roads, thanks to a High Court-backed state ban. But for thousands of gig workers and commuters, bike taxis were more than a convenience, they were a lifeline. As protests intensify and surge pricing spikes, this episode unpacks the policy deadlock, the Centre’s new guidelines, and why even women commuters are asking for the ban to be lifted. Tune in. To a...
Jul 03, 2025•13 min•Ep. 525
Rare-earth magnets, made from elements like neodymium and praseodymium, are essential to EV motors. But nearly all of them come from China. And since April, not a single shipment has arrived. Maruti Suzuki has already slashed production. TVS and Bajaj are counting down to a July deadline. Others, like Mahindra and Omega Seiki, saw this coming and started building workarounds. This isn’t just a supply chain issue. It’s a geopolitical move. China controls over 90% of rare-earth processing and has ...
Jul 03, 2025•11 min•Ep. 524
Post-pandemic, retail giants like Reliance and Aditya Birla Fashion were ready to bounce back and they weren’t being very subtle about it. Reliance Retail for instance opened nearly 6000 stores across fashion, groceries, electronics just in FY22 and FY23. But the retail dream of a booming post-Covid shopping spree that companies had sold themselves never really happened. Soon these companies had to hit rewind. Thousands of jobs were gone and hundreds of stores had to be closed down. Turns out, I...
Jul 01, 2025•9 min•Ep. 523
Everybody wants to invest, but not everyone knows how. There just aren’t many who can point investors in the right direction. Registered investment advisors, or RIAs—either individuals or corporates licensed by the stock-market regulator—are an endangered species in India. While the country had about 192 million demat accounts as of March 2025, there were only about 941 advisors. That’s one advisor for over 200,000 investors. Pressure much? You’d think the problem goes away if there were more Se...
Jul 01, 2025•15 min•Ep. 522
Over the last four years, Croma has found itself in a curious spot. On paper, it’s Tata Digital’s crown jewel—contributing over half of its revenue and crossing ₹18,000 crore in sales last year. But behind the scenes, it’s also become Tata Digital’s favourite testing ground. From sudden team transfers — like its entire marketing team being moved to Tata Digital overnight — to shifting strategies, Croma has borne the brunt of Tata’s endless experimentation. The result? Cracks in its business mode...
Jun 30, 2025•14 min•Ep. 521
While Prada walks the ramp in Kolhapuris, here in India, Bata, the brand that once defined middle-class respectability, can barely find its footing. Bata which was once a household name, a back-to-school essential, a symbol of quality without fuss, is now finding itself squeezed. Too expensive for the value-hunting Zudio crowd and not fancy enough for the Birkenstock and Crocs-wearing folks. Which is why Sandeep Kataria’s recent resignation as global CEO feels like a full circle moment. After al...
Jun 26, 2025•12 min•Ep. 520
Category managers have shifted from routine e-commerce roles to powerful decision-makers in quick commerce. They now manage the limited shelf space in dark stores and decide which products get visibility on platforms like Instamart, Zepto, and Blinkit. Naturally, brands are aggressively courting them, with over 30,000 requests every month for just 150 slots. From hosting parties to taking them out for drinks, brands are pulling out all the stops. Meanwhile, category managers are urging brands to...
Jun 26, 2025•13 min•Ep. 519
Turns out, in India’s healthcare industry, prevention isn’t just better than cure—it’s also far more investable. The new buzzword making the rounds? Health assurance. Not insurance—assurance. It means what it sounds like. Unlike traditional insurance, which kicks in after you fall sick, health assurance is about keeping you healthy to begin with. A Pune-based startup called Loop Health was the first to introduce India to a variant of the same concept. It positions itself as a corporate broker, n...
Jun 24, 2025•10 min•Ep. 518
The rise and fall of Pharmeasy is well documented. Once the poster child of the e-pharmacy boom, it reached a dizzying valuation of 5.6 bn USD at its very peak. But unfortunately, as we all know now, it didn’t last. Today the company is worth just 450 million USD – which, is a 90 per cent drop. From aggressive acquisitions to regulatory hurdles, and a failed IPO, Pharmeasy’s journey has been a cautionary tale of overreach. But the brains behind the operation – Siddharth Shah – isn’t done yet. He...
Jun 24, 2025•13 min•Ep. 517
Tata Electronics is assembling iPhones in Karnataka, aiming to become a key player in Apple’s global supply chain. In this episode, we look at how the company is scaling by adding factories, hiring thousands of workers, and investing heavily in automation. But it’s also facing high attrition, rising debt, and pressure to meet Apple’s strict standards. Can Tata turn its manufacturing push into a long-term win? Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-on...
Jun 22, 2025•9 min•Ep. 516
In this episode, we turn the spotlight on one of the most powerful yet elusive figures in Indian e-commerce: Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the everywhere-all-the-time CEO of Flipkart. Flipkart, backed by Walmart, was once India’s great e-commerce hope. But lately, the tides have been turning. Walmart is flying high, outperforming Amazon globally, dominating grocery delivery, and raking in ad dollars with a valuation that’s outshining even Apple. But six years after buying Flipkart, Walmart’s patience is...
Jun 19, 2025•21 min•Ep. 515
For the longest time, getting accepted to Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley startup accelerator was like getting a golden ticket for your startup. It was suddenly on the map not just in India but in Silicon Valley, too. For Indian founders who made it, the story of success began with a journey west. Set up in Delaware, impress YC, and get some of that Silicon Valley shine. But what happens when that dream starts looking more like a detour than a destination?Earlier this week, the online market pl...
Jun 19, 2025•14 min•Ep. 514
In a recent, 10-page note recapping its investing journey, Info Edge (India) founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani proudly, and justifiably, called Zomato and Policybazaar “breakout successes”, “winners”, and “outliers”. A few days earlier, Zomato, now renamed Eternal, had released its sobering financials for the three months ended March. So what’s Infoedge doing about it? Apart from its own businesses – spanning recruitment, real estate, matrimony and education – it owns roughly 12.5% each of Eternal an...
Jun 17, 2025•10 min•Ep. 513
Indians are hungry for luxury watches. Just in 2024, even as exports of Swiss watches declined globally, they surged 25 per cent in India. Interestingly, the player winning in this fast-growing market is not a legacy business house like Tata or Reliance, rather it is little-know Chandigarh-based retailer, Ethos. What sets it apart is the strong relationships it has built with ultra-luxury watch makers over the decades. How does it do it? Tune in. Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fi...
Jun 17, 2025•12 min•Ep. 512
Dream Sports, the company behind Dream11, just bought a piece of Cricbuzz from Times Internet for $50 million. It also bought a stake in Willow TV, a cricket broadcaster in the U.S. As you probably know, Dream11’s core business is fantasy sports. But no thanks to new taxes and regulatory friction, their business isn’t looking so good lately. Revenue projections are down, growth is slowing, and they haven’t raised fresh money since 2021. Cricbuzz, meanwhile, has hundreds of millions of monthly vi...
Jun 15, 2025•9 min•Ep. 511
